Afro–American Autobiography as Ideological Documentation: A study of Richard Wright’s Black Boy

Abstract

A preoccupation with political and social problems is evident in the works of a number of early black writers. The Afro – Americans and indeed, the black race had undergone several stages of human and material exploitation, from the triangular slave trade period of the 15^th century to the colonization period of the 18^th century. This paper examines the theory of Afro –American autobiography and places Richard Wright’s Black Boy within the continuum of Black autobiography. The paper discusses issues relating to the formation of an ideology in Afro- American Autobiography. The paper further seeks to prove that, autobiography a part of a study of the Creative Process, a humanistic study of the ways of men and the forms taken by human consciousness can also be viewed as an ideological document.